The Tower (215)

[tfalls1]

just watched it... for the first time ever used the FF button on a stargate episode... bad costumes( was there a sale on shakespeare AND German Nazi costumes), bad acting, and really glossed over the whole 2nd city thing.... and PLEASE no more "villages". I'd rather see a CGI city or town then the same ol huts on dirt.

[Easter Lily]

Not an unmitigated disaster... This episode was no where near as boring as Childhood's End or as annoying as Sanctuary. I liked it for what it was... a romp around the neighbourhood. But what really saved it for me was the presence of Peter Woodward... *sigh*... "I missed thee Galen", one of the great things about the short-lived Crusade.

The French Revolution, the Tower was not, however, I was amused by the Atlantis redux... interesting idea that there would be more than one those "ships" lurking about in the Pegasus galaxy. I was greatly amused to see 18th century furnishings and ornaments covering that Atlantis set, harem and all.
Also amusing was Rodney poking around underground, alternating between fear and bravado. Not so amusing was yet another alien woman of the week throwing herself at Sheppard. This is getting rather tiresome... methinks...

There's a cheesiness about it that reminds me of classic Dr Who... The Doctor comes into a situation... there's dictator/or oppressive government... using his cunning and ingenuity... he overthrows the oppressive government and voila... viva la revolution! There is perhaps a hint of a parallel between the decadence and fall of the Bourbons and the royal bloodline of The Tower.

And yes, the knife scene between Sheppard and Otho (?) had resonances of Hamlet...
"No medicine in the world can do thee good;
In thee there is not half an hour of life;
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,
Unbated and envenomed. The foul practice
Hath turn'd itself on me; lo! here I lie,"

[starfox]

Hamlet, hmm? Actually it does, now that I think about it. I was getting more of a Dune vibe, though (the last scene in the throne room/hall, which I would quote if I had a copy remotely near me right now). Maybe I was just thinking Dune because of the odd orange-y lighting for the outside bits (did anyone else see that, or is my ep just a weird copy?).

[Quinn Mallory]

It was entertaining but borderlined on trite to make this a great episode. I think the setup is good but everything sort of got rushed.

I also thought Sheppard's going for the girl a bit odd (I guess since he slept with her he thought he was responsible to take care of him).

Otherwise, the over-the-top costumes and acting added to the humour of the episode for me. In the long term, this is probably one of the more forgettable episode of season 2, except for the implication that other Atlantis-like city may still exist.

[Merlin7]

I totally reversed my expectations and loved the ep. It was purely meant to be cheesy and yet had a few really great moments. Like with Shep and Otho.

I love watching Shep kiss seeing as how I'm not a Shipper and there is NO CANON SHIP so...Shep is free to kiss as many women as he likes and I like watching. He didn't boink her anyway so...go for it Shep. LOL

I loved Shep getting goosed. I loved the team moments in the beginning.

I loved Carson and shep bits.. Loved Shep fighting.

The Shep and Weir moment at the end was rushed but cute. John was so proud of himself for resisting SEX and the chance to be King. LOL

Liked Ronon killing that jerk guard guy too. Shocking but he so deserved it. Pig.

I was entertained and didn't feel the need to fast forward but once. So great ep for me. Especially since Mallozzi pretty much said forget getting anything on Shep. Which...DUH...he's not Marysue-Mckay so I'm catching on.

[smushybird]

So... The rest of the season is gonna be Teyla-lite, Weir-lite and Ronon-lite, eh?


Fantastic.

Love Shep, love McKay... But this is getting pretty ridiculous.

It should be Weir-lite, since she's basically in the role of a General Hammond, but I agree it shouldn't be Teyla and Ronon-lite, since they are part of the team and we should be seeing the team working together. Certainly, Teyla and Ronon have become interesting characters with untapped potential. We need more of them and more Sheppard background, to round out the foursome as they go on adventures. They're a great group.

And yes, the knife scene between Sheppard and Otho (?) had resonances of Hamlet.

Plot sounds more Lear-ish than Hamlet-y, apart from that one bit.
Disheartening to read so many negative reviews of the second half of season two. I hope things pick up with the next episode.

[freyr's mother]

One question. How many jumpers and how many drones do we get? I'm asking for numbers here.

[The Kaibosh]

One question. How many jumpers and how many drones do we get? I'm asking for numbers here.

Couldn't tell exactly but they suggested a full bay of jumpers but really only showed about four of them. As for the number of drones, they didn't say the number either but when Rodney found them he didn't seem too impressed with how many there were. From the limited shot of the drone chamber I got the impression that there were several hundred drones.

Cheers

[obsessed1]

I think it was meant to be a bad episode in a sense. Almost a parody of itself. It was like the writers were like ' okay what do write this week?' and someone said 'well if its gonna suck, lets make it suck bad' Sometimes and i mean sometimes, they can pull off a show by doing the whole cliched fairytale thing. (Ever see Farscape John Quixote ep? no?)

I found it hilarious at times. (Well for starters i know the costumes were awful, the characters were cliche etc etc) but i kind of think it meant to be that way.

Highlight for me:

-Shep gettting pinched on the butt in the dinner scene and his face jsut afterwards was hilarious.

-the whole kissing of the girl....um......what did i say again?...um......did you just say ruler? and her pushing him onto the bed. Also the 'i never see this coming' remark felt like a joke to me. Like he was saying yeah this is all cliche, so in this ep i kiss the girl again.
How do i get myself into these situations?

-his little stumble when him and carson get put in the cell. Dont know why but it made me chuckle.

-the end bit with weir. He didnt have sex with that girl - he didnt, he didnt he didnt- and if i say it enough times it will come true. right?

Okay so yeah it was a bad ep but had some humour at least. Some have said it was a filler ep and im inclined to agree. They need supplies for obvious upcoming battles and such.

[PG15]

Plot's a little cliche
Ortho(?) was pretty good, surprised me when he became the bad guy
"Drone reveal" very well done
Shakespear thing very very annoying.
Nice to see more locations in the Ancient City, even if it's not Atlantis itself

Overall...not too bad, but not too great either.

[Ancient_Rilus]

Isn't having left the buried sister city without defenses a bad thing for Earth, as it is a space ship like atlantis, meaning intergalactic capable. Doesn't leaving it defenseless mean if the Wraith get hold of the buried city's engines they could get to Earth, the whole point SGA put a self destruct in place on Atlantis was to stop such a situation. Shouldn't they have done something to disable the engines or put a self destruct on the sister city?

[PG15]

1. They want Atlantis because it's the only GATE that dials Earth, not because it can fly there.

2. The ZPM on the sister city's run out, so it can't have engines anymore than it can make a cup of coffee.

[dark_faith]

When I see an ep like this one, I wonder if the writers like M&M still enjoy writing for this show.

I mean, if they really like the show, they should write things they wanna see, scenes they would enjoy to watch! They should want to please the fans!

Maybe they just have bad tastes....

looks like we reached the point where they all very confortable where they are and that's all, it's just a business... no more fun in writing for Stargate....

maybe time for new faces in the crew ??

[Yeade]

I just finished watching the episode, so I can't gather much of an overall impression through the haze of my general SGA squee.

However, I do have a few thoughts on Sheppard and Mara:

At first, I found Sheppard's behavior a little out of character.

Sheppard strikes me as someone who keeps everybody at arm's length by being superficially charming and friendly. This is likely why he always seems to end up with women who wouldn't hold him to anything, but I imagine these women have a hard time getting close enough in the first place.

Given his previous three liaisons, his interaction with Mara didn't make much sense to me. True, he fell hard for Chaya and Teer, but the former was an Ancient and the latter close to Ascension; in other words, I can write both off as being an effect of Sheppard's magic gene. And, more to the point, he proved quite resistant to Neera's advances, catching on to her attempts to fish for information pretty quickly. So why then, after what he'd seen of the machinations in the Lord Protector's court, would he so... passively accept sleeping with a woman who's in contention for the throne, so to speak, and whose goal--by her own admission--is to marry him and rule, ousting her older brother from power? It simply doesn't seem smart to me, and Sheppard isn't exactly the dullest tack in the box.

Of course, one could always assume Sheppard turned Mara out--clutching her clothes to her chest in ladylike modesty--right after the scene cut, and he was just too surprised at her advances to do it before.

If not, well... I must go with an aphrodisiac in his food or drink!

No, wait! Hear me out!

My understanding of the court intrigue is that Otho was plotting with both Tavius and Mara. Otho doesn't have the Ancient gene and so can't operate the chair himself, but I think he was setting himself up as the power behind the throne. As Mara's betrothed, Otho would also gain prestige were she to rule, and from his position as consort, he could manipulate the easily influenced Mara to do whatever he wanted. The question was how to bump Mara up the line of succession.

First, he had to get rid of the Lord Protector. So he supplied Tavius with the poison that let the foolish boy go through with his plan to kill his father and inherit the throne.

Or so Otho allowed Tavius to think, playing the simpering chamberlain.

Maybe not immediately afterwards--two royal deaths, one after another, would be a little too suspicious--but certainly later, Otho would do away with Tavius as Tavius did away with his father, and Mara would rightfully take her place as regent, Otho at her right hand.

This was the plan Otho had in motion before Sheppard arrived, and it was not without its risks. It would be so much better if the Lord Protector would abdicate the throne to Mara directly. Tavius wouldn't be able to overturn his father's decision, and if he made trouble, Otho could have him killed then. The question, though, was how to strengthen Mara's claim over that of Tavius.

Enter Sheppard's magic gene.

And, suddenly, there was the very real possibility that if Mara could bear children with a stronger ATA gene, she would win the favor of her father and be proclaimed heir over her brother. Then Otho could have Sheppard, a stranger, killed and claim the child as his own.

The revised plan was for Mara to seduce Sheppard and steal his genes. Now, Otho had already provided Tavius with poison. What if, to assure Mara would be successful, he brewed her an aphrodisiac? To be slipped in Sheppard's food or drink.

MUWAHAHAHAHAHA...!

Where Otho's plan hit a snag is that Mara genuinely, if not loved, then liked and was attracted to Sheppard. Because, seriously, who (or what) wouldn't be?

[freyr's mother]

Thanks.